ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Album Notes

The middle-class son of a petroleum plant supervisor, Martelly taught himself to play the piano by ear. After graduating from high school and unsuccessfully attempting to study medicine, Martelly was briefly enlisted in the Haitian Military Academy before dropping out. He emigrated to the United States with an American wife, where he enrolled at Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, Colorado and worked in a local grocery store. In 1986, after just one semester, he divorced and returned to Haiti just as Jean-Claude Duvalier, then president-for-life, was heading into exile. He returned stateside with his then-girlfriend, Sophia, and married her in Miami, FL and had his first child, Olivier. Martelly continued to work on a construction site for a year until moving back to Haiti in 1987. Upon their return to Haiti, Martelly began playing keyboard as a fill-in gigger in local venues in Petionville and Kenscoff, suburbs of Port-au-Prince. One of his regular stints was at El Rancho, a casino owned by Joe Namphy, the brother of General Henri Namphy, who served a short stint as president after Duvalier's departure.

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